Fox News sued by former booker Laura Luhn over alleged ‘decades-long’ abuse

A former booker for the Fox News Channel is suing the network and its parent company over what she says were decades of abuse and blackmail by former network head Roger Ailes.

Laura Luhn, a former booker for Fox who began working at the network in 1996, on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in state court in New York against Fox News Network, its parent company 21st Century Fox and former network executive Bill Shine.

Luhn in her lawsuit asserts that Ailes “used his position as the head of Fox News to trap Laura W. Luhn in a decades-long cycle of sexual abuse.”

Luhn’s suit alleges that Ailes photographed and videotaped her in “compromising positions—blackmail material that he explicitly described as his ‘insurance policy’—and made clear to Luhn that any attempt to speak out or stop the abuse would result in severe personal humiliation and career ruin.”

Ailes, who spearheaded Fox’s ascension to the top-watched cable news channel, died in 2017 after being ousted from his position amid widespread allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct.

“This matter was settled years ago, dismissed in subsequent litigation, and is meritless,” said a Fox News spokesperson.

Luhn filed her lawsuit under New York State’s new Adult Survivors Act, a new law which re-opens the statute of limitations for sexual abuse claims.

— Updated at 4:58 p.m.